Daily rants, raves, and regurgitation of my weird life as a writer/mom/small dog technician, foodie, and movie nut.

August 03, 2019

Books always have to have front and back cover designs -- after all, in a very competitive book market you want something that will appeal to a reader. I know this well, because I designed the cover to my novel Ghosts in the Garden City. The aphorism "Don't judge a book by its cover" comes into play here.We all judge books by their covers.

I am not a graphic artist and designing things like book covers gives me a major case of the willies. However, when you self-publish on Amazon the cover is up to you. As a little girl, I wanted to be an artist. There are plenty of very talented artists on both sides of my family. My beloved uncle Lewis Thompson was a marvelous artist and taught art at Hollins College (now Hollins University) for more than 30 years. I wanted to be like him. I was not the tiniest bit as talented, unfortunately. (Better to learn that at 18 than at 22 and trying to get a job as a very crappy graphic artist.)

Now, I have just a smidgen of design talent, as I learned when messing about on Canva, trying to design my book cover.

My cousin Linda Harris has a boatload of photography talent. Her father, brother, and daughter are also excellent photographers. Linda very kindly agreed to help me by taking a photo for the cover of Ghosts in the Garden City. Just down the road from where Linda lives in Acworth, Georgia, is the lovely Cedar Plantation.

Cedar Plantation [see left] is a home that has been around since the Civil War and is a popular wedding and event venue in Acworth. Linda suggested it would make a great photo opportunity and she was right.

Linda's efforts produced more than 80 shots, all of them fantastic. However, I could only choose one. Ironically, I think I chose the first shot she took. Then it had to be 300 dpi and that was a huge hassle but she helped me out there too.

Left, the house from a different angle.

Right, a possible cover shot that ultimately didn't work. I decided the black and white shot was more brooding and sad, and fit with the book's themes better. I love the color, though.

[Not that Ghosts in the Garden City is a sad book. It isn't. There are many droll moments in the book, and probably even some laughs out loud, I hope.]

Although Ghosts in the Garden City is set in Augusta, Georgia, trying to send a photographer over there and take photos of the beautiful old homes -- and of course get permission to use the image on the book cover -- was impractical and would have delayed me getting the book published.

I am delighted that my book cover photo came from Acworth.

My family has strong ties to Acworth. My Butler and Hasty ancestors have lived there for more than a hundred years. My mom visited her aunt Hazel in Acworth many times, growing up, and sang at their church many Sundays -- Mom was a professional singer when she was young, and had a gorgeous voice. Hazel worked at a drugstore in downtown Acworth for decades. There is even a photo of Mom in a book about Acworth. Linda's husband is a pastor at Mars Hill Presbyterian, a historic and lovely church in Acworth. He has conducted weddings at Cedar Plantation. Linda's mom Jane Hasty [originally Jane Terry] grew up in Acworth and I had no idea until yesterday that Jane was very familiar with the home Linda and I decided to photograph for my book cover. Here's what Jane said to me in an email:

"I wanted to tell you that the house on the front cover is one my relatives owned for many years - the Abbott's. I've been in that house many, many times. My Mother was quite fond of Will, Joe and Dixie - we all were. Seeing it made me wonder where their children are today - I have absolutely no idea."

Mrs. Abbott named the estate "The Cedars" because of the huge beautiful trees that adorn the property. She told her grandchildren that on a clear day, she could see Red Top Mountain and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. Mrs. Abbott enjoyed writing so much that she had stationery printed that read: Writing to You from the Cedars.

Recently Bill Abbott, who grew up in the family home, and his lovely wife Susan celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary at Cedar Plantation. It was an honor to host the event for them, they too raised their children in the home." ​

Southerners are always fascinated by family connections like this. I love that I am connected to the Abbotts through my aunt. I love that their beautiful home is on the cover of my book. I love that my cousin Linda was so gracious and wonderful about helping me out. I am very blessed to have wonderful family members who are also actual friends.

Below, some shots of Linda and me as youngsters and the bottom shot is my aunt Jane and uncle Don when they were young, about 1957 [?]